Photo Cred: Julie Livingston Photography 

Raise your hand if you’re guilty of avoiding obstacles like “if I close my eyes, it will go away”. Yeah, me too.

I’ve been talking about change for the past few posts, and as exciting as it can be, it can also be a little scary.

Since moving to Charleston, I’ve felt ready to become more involved in the blogging culture here. I’ve been fantasizing about having fashionista girlfriends that wear flower crowns and post filtered group shots of ‘The Crew” wearing them on Instagram. I pretended that there were already so many bloggers here that it didn’t matter if I wasn’t one of them, so…I wasn’t one of them. But, then one Friday night, I decided to buy some new preset photo filters and was determined to install them on my phone, even if I wasn’t sure what the heck that even meant. And I did. And then I started following more bloggers and commenting on their posts.  And then other bloggers started reaching out to me and inviting me to events. And then I signed up for a flower crown-making event and found out some of my new blogging friends would be there. And suddenly, I’m with new fashionista girlfriends in a filtered group shot on Instagram.

After being involved in the Interior Design community in Philadelphia, I’ve felt ready to be more involved in the close-knit design community here in Charleston. I’ve been craving the kind of creative girlfriends that meet up at a new hotel just to touch the flooring to determine if it’s actually reclaimed hardwood or a fab laminate. So, I pretended that I didn’t work here anyway and all of my reps are in Philly, so these contacts aren’t helpful now. But then, my projects started wrapping up at work and the opportunity to start building my career in Charleston opened up. And then I contacted a group on social media to become more involved. And then an architect sent me a message saying her team could use some help with new projects and ‘could I send over some of my work?’ And I did. And then I signed up for the group’s networking event this week at a reclaimed wood vendor. And suddenly, I’m with creative women who are meeting up downtown to touch reclaimed wood flooring.

I moved to Charleston because although my career was in full swing,  I was ready for the rest of my life to begin. And now that it has, I’m ready to really blossom and bloom where I’ve planted myself.

❤